La Junta baseball sweeps Ellicott 12-0, 21-1

La Junta High School's baseball team remained undefeated in the Tri-Peaks League East Division after sweeping a doubleheader against Ellicott Saturday at Potter Park.

The Tigers won the first game 12-0 and the second 21-1.

"We're hitting the ball a little bit and playing some defense," said LJ coach Justin Weber. "Pitching is coming around and they're throwing a lot of strikes. They threw more ground balls than strikeouts, but we'll take those all day long."

The Tigers took the early lead in the opener by scoring five runs in the bottom of the first. Cole Bryant started the rally by reaching first base on an outfield error and he came home on Casey Weber's double. Dallas Oquist then walked and Dillon Eveatt doubled home both runners to increase the lead to 3-0.

Elias Altamirano put the exclamation mark on the first inning as he hit a two-run homer.

The Tigers put another run on the board in the second. Colten Williams led off with a triple and scored on Bryant's sacrifice fly.

La Junta added three more runs in the third. Troy Schreivogel was safe on an error and went to third on Eveatt's second double of the game. Schreivogel came home on Altamirano's sacrifice fly and Cody Knoell hit a two-run home run to give the Tigers a 9-0 lead.

La Junta put the game away with three runs in the fourth. Weber and Oquist both walked and after a wild pitch, both scored on Schreivogel's single. Schreivogel went to third on Altamirano's double and scored on Knoell's groundout.

The game ended in the fifth on the 10-run rule.

Oquist started the game as the Tigers' pitcher and earned the win. He allowed no runs and one hit while striking out seven and walking none.

Knoell pitched the final inning and struck out all three batters he faced.

The Tigers had nine hits in the opener with Altamirano going 2-2 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Weber went 2-2 with two doubles and one RBI and Eveatt went 2-3 with two doubles and two RBIs.

La Junta scored twice in the first inning of the nightcap. Bryant led off with a single then stole second. Tanner Cox then singled home Bryant and came all the way around on an error to score the Tigers' second run.

Ellicott scored its only run in the top of the third. Austin Lenz singled and went to third as Patrick Harper was safe on an error. Garrett Harper doubled home Lenz to cut the lead to 2-1.

La Junta responded by scoring 13 runs in its half of the third. Cox led off with an infield single and then stole second. Weber singled home Cox for a 3-1 lead.

Oquist and Schreivogel both reached first base on errors with Weber scoring on the second miscue. Eveatt then walked to load the bases and Altamirano cleared the bases with a triple to give the Tigers a 7-1 advantage.

Altamirano scored on a wild pitch.

Knoell drew a walk and Williams singled home Knoell. Bryant then tripled to score Williams for a 10-1 lead.

Bryant scored as Cox reached base in a fielder's choice. Oquist and Schreivogel both walked to fill the sacks and Eveatt and Altamirano also walked to drive home runs.

Knoell ended the third-inning scoring with a two-run single for a 15-1 lead.

La Junta put six more runs on the board in the fourth. Cox began the inning by getting hit by a pitch and Weber singled. Both runners came home on errors for a 17-1 advantage.

Andrew Flaherty singled and Eveatt was hit by a pitch. Altamirano doubled home a run and Xavier Carrillo reached first base on an error, scoring another run.

Altamirano was brought home on Williams' sacrifice fly and Bryant was safe on an outfield error allowing Carrillo to score.

Once again the game ended in the fifth on the 10-run rule.

Schreivogel started on the mound and picked up the win. He allowed one run and two hits and struck out four, walked none and hit one.

Williams completed the game and gave up no runs and no hits. He struck out two and walked none.

The Tigers collected 12 hits in the second game. Cox went 2-3 with two RBIs, Altamirano was 2-4 with a double, a triple and five RBIs, Bryant went 2-5 with a double and two RBIs and Weber was 2-5 with one RBI.

La Junta (6-4, 4-0) will travel to Trinidad for a doubleheader on Saturday.

"Trinidad will be tough," Weber said. "They have a couple of good pitchers, so we'll see what we can do."